Stamkos sparks Bolts' win

Wednesday

TAMPA - Steven Stamkos scored his NHL-leading 44th goal of the season and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the slumping Montreal Canadiens 2-1 on Tuesday night.

Adam Hall also scored for the Lightning, who are 11th in the Eastern Conference and trail eighth-place Washington by five points. Mathieu Garon finished with 23 saves.

Stamkos took a pass from Teddy Purcell, deked around goalie Carey Price and put the Lightning up 1-0 at 8:42 of the first period.

Purcell, a game-time decision due to the flu, has 10 assists and 14 points during a career-high seven-game point streak.

Montreal got a goal from David Desharnais. The Canadiens have lost five in a row, getting outscored 16-5.

Tampa Bay went ahead 2-1 when Hall ended his 45-game goal drought, dating to the season opener Oct. 7 against Carolina, from the low slot off a pass from Ryan Malone 28 seconds into the second.

Desharnais had tied it at 1-all with 3:58 left in the first.

Malone was given an instigator penalty, 5-minute fighting major and a game misconduct at 8:16 of the second after a scuffle near the Canadiens bench. Montreal's Brad Staubitz got 2 minutes for interference from the bench and a 10-minute misconduct on the play.

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